2l8 



DIURNAL BIRDS OF PREY. 



surface being white, with some dark spots. All the Oriental species are smaller, 

 some having the inferior portion of the under surface marked with dark barrings. 

 The following account of the habits of the marsh crested eagle {S). lirtinaetus), 

 which ranges from India to Java, is given by Capt. Feilden, who writes from Pegu. 

 He observes that this eagle " seems to be a very common bird about Thyetmyo ; 

 every ravine in the spurs of the Arracan Mountains seems to contain one or more 



WARLIKE CRESTED EAGLE (J nat. size). 



pairs, as well as every wooded stream in the lower ground. Their wild screaming 

 (whistle) is almost always to be heard long before the bird is seen, as it sits in 

 some large tree rising above the rest of the jungle, or wheels in circles far overhead ; 

 it is one of the wildest and wariest of birds. One that I took from the nest nearly 

 two years ago is still as wild as ever, and constantly ruffles up the feathers of its 

 head till they look almost like the crest of a bloodsucker, leaving the top of the 

 head almost bare. It has also a habit of throwing back the head, apparently 

 looking for a hole in the top of its cage, and bending backwards till it frequently 



